Thoughts, ideas and insights directly from the ANA

September 19, 2006

Not Marketing Anymore?

I'm definitely feeling an acceleration in the shift away from what John Stichweh Coca-Cola's Director of Worldwide Interactive Marketing called "Holistic Harrassment" (aka, integrated marketing, 360-degree marketing) to a more respectful, engagement-oriented relationship with consumers.

I'm not sure we can even call it marketing anymore.

ANA is also seeing a shift to a more-engagement oriented model; though within this framework are also some exceptional integrated campaigns (not harassment per se). I believe we can still call it marketing, as Wikipedia states: The practice of marketing is almost as old as humanity itself. Marketing is about building relationships with your customers, it always has been and always will be. Some do it better than others. Some use a ton of different media to reach their customer. But yes, a lot of marketers are getting smarter (and becoming a high value asset as a driver of growth) as the marketing/advertising organization transitions to what Jim identifies as: the true purpose of marketing: to discover and satisfy the want, needs, and motivations of consumers.